Waiting on Wednesday (6): The Collector

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a feature designed to spotlight upcoming novels we can't wait to get our hands on. Click the link for more!

The Collector

by Victoria Scott
Release Date: March 12th, 2013
Series: Dante Walker #1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: Paranormal
Add to Goodreads 

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence has made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.
Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days.
Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions deeply buried.

I am SO in the mood for a bad-boy paranormal! By the sounds of it, that part of Dante's character won't be watered down like a lot of "bad boys" in YA, and I'm excited to see the character growth. Plus!! I don't know if you guys have read Breaking Lauren by Jordan Deen before, but I absolutely loved it and The Collector sounds like a similar title only with paranormal elements. Hopefully in March when it's released I'll still be in this mood. :P

What were your picks this week? Have you read The Collector or Breaking Lauren? - Alysson

Top Ten Books I'd Want On A Deserted Island

Top Ten Tuesday - November 13th
Hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish. We make lists each week on various categories. This week's topic is:
TOP 10 Books I'd Want On A Deserted Island

LONG BOOKS TO KEEP ME BUSY

The Complete Works of Sherlock Homes - 1796 pages, I think I'll be entertained for a while!

The Count of Monte Cristo - Maybe I can learn how to escape. ;)

The Lord of the Rings - I'd bring the bind up of all three. It works. Technically. Teehee

FANTASY - A GIRL HAS TO STAY ENTERTAINED!

Graceling - Kickass MC? Action? Yes please.

Eragon - I haven't actually read this one so it'll be a surprise!

The Way of Shadows - Another hefty book, but it's about assassins! I love assassins.

FOR THE MORE DIFFICULT DAYS

Twilight - Truth time. I am a complete sucker for this series. I love them so much!

Anna and the French Kiss - I could reread this book over and over again.

OF COURSE A FEW OF MY FAVORITES

To Kill A Mockingbird - My all time favorite book. I couldn't image not having it with me

Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales - I never get tired of these stories

Pride and Prejudice - Does this really need an explaination?

This topic was so hard! I had a really difficult time choosing what I'd bring, how about you?

Stacking the Shelves (5): November 10

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It's a chance to share all the goodies we received, bought, borrowed or whatever over the last week.

We were bad this week - we bought too many books and posted too little. We should all know by now that when going to Half Price Books, saying "I'm just going to look, I don't want to buy anything," is a load of crap. Well, I guess I can't be in too much trouble though since everything except for Vampire Academy was under $3, and Bill bought stuff too!

The Books :

1. Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
2. The Gunslinger - Stephen King (Dark Tower #1)
3. The Drawing of Three (Dark Tower #2)
4. The Waste Lands (Dark Tower #3)
5. Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower #4)
6. Wolves of Calla (Dark Tower #5)
7. Song of Susannah (Dark Tower #6)

1. Vampire Academy -They had it hardcover!
2. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
3. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
4. Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2)
5. Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #3)
6. Embers & Echos - Karsten Knight
7. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
8. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
9. Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs
10. One For the Money - Janet Evanovich
11. Once Burned - Jeaniene Frost
12. Torment - Lauren Kate
13. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini 

This Week's Posts:

Memes/Extras:

• Waiting on Wednesday: Belle Epoque
• Bill talks about Stephen King

Reviews:

• Slide by Jill Hathaway

- Alysson

Waiting on Wednesday (4): Belle Epoque

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a feature designed to spotlight upcoming novels we can't wait to get our hands on. Click the link for more!

Belle Epoque
by Elizabeth Ross
Release Date: June 11, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte BFYR
Genre: Historical
Add to Goodreads 

When Maude Pichon runs away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad. The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service—the beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive.

Monsieur Durandeau has made a fortune from wealthy socialites, and when the Countess Dubern needs a companion for her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, Maude is deemed the perfect foil.

But Isabelle has no idea her new "friend" is the hired help, and Maude's very existence among the aristocracy hinges on her keeping the truth a secret. Yet the more she learns about Isabelle, the more her loyalty is tested. And the longer her deception continues, the more she has to lose.

First thing's first: COVER LOVE. Gahh it's just so beautiful! The girl looks so dejected, and I just love how her emotion contrasts with how pretty she and the cover are... Wait though, she's supposed to be the plain friend... so then Isabelle must be already be gorgeous? O_o  I love reading about foreign countries, and the fact that Maude ran away in search of a better and more fulfilling life makes me instantly like her. Chick's got balls in my opinion. Too bad I have to wait until freaking JUNE of next year to figure out if she and I will in fact be besties. Sad day.

What are you waiting on? Leave a link! :)

- Alysson

Stacking the Shelves (4): November 3

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It's a chance to share all the goodies we received, bought, borrowed or whatever over the last week.

We're super thrilled for our books this week! Alysson's trying to satisfy her urban fantasy craving in effort to wait reading Crossed until closer to Reached's release date. Bill has the next Morganville book. Midterms are over. Bill got his internship (YES YES YES!!! :D). Life is good. ^__^

The Books :

Who's on an urban fantasy kick? Allie is. :D

1. Greywalker - Kat Richardson
2. Some Girls Bite - Chloe Neill
3. Second Grave on the Left - Darynda Jones
4. Dark Descendant - Jenna Black
5. Geist - Philippa Ballantine
6. Working Stiff - Rachel Caine

1. Wildwood - Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis
2. Soulbound - Heather Brewer 
3. Valkyrie Rising - Ingrid Paulson
4. League of Strays - L.B. Schulman
5. Last Breath - Rachel Caine
6. The Hallowed Ones - Laura Bickle
7. Crossed - Ally Condie
8. Intertwined - Gena Showalter

This Week's Posts :

MEMES

• Top Ten Tuesday: An ode to some of the most kick-ass chicks in YA (plus Cat of course)
• Waiting on Wednesday: Falling Kingdoms - an epic high fantasy? Yes please.

REVIEWS

• Bill talks about The Kill Order, and whether or not to read it before the Maze Runner trilogy
• Allie discusses how audiobooks can ruin your reading experience in her review of This Dark Endeavor
• Allie "reviews" (fangirls, squeals, and obsesses over) Halfway to the Grave ...she also goes overboard with GIFs.
• Allie obsesses over the audiobook for Matched

That's it! Make sure to link up your hauls so we can come check them out. :)

-Bill & Alysson

Waiting on Wednesday (3): Falling Kingdoms

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a feature designed to spotlight upcoming novels we can't wait to get our hands on. Click the link for more!

Falling Kingdoms
by Morgan Rhodes
Series: Falling Kingdoms, #1
Release Date: December 11th, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Genre: Fantasy
Add to Goodreads 

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power--brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished--and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past--and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

I've been on a high fantasy kick after reading Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass. It used to be my favorite genre, thanks to Tamora Pierce, but I've let these books fall to the wayside in recent years and am struggling to catch back up. Falling Kingdoms sounds like it's filled with political intrigue, magic, and interesting characters - everything I love about the genre. However, I have a feeling this one will be written from multiple viewpoints, so even though it is 412 pages long, I'm worried about character development.

What are you looking forward to this week? Do you enjoy high fantasy as much as I do? Let me know!
- Alysson :)

10 Kick-Ass Heroines

Top Ten Tuesday - October 30th 
Hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish. We make lists each week on various categories. This week's topic is:
TOP 10 Kick-Ass Heroines

All of these ladies can hold their own - they're strong, brilliant, cunning, and brave. Seriously guys, I wanna be besties with all of them - well, maybe except for Alex and Remy... their fierceness is awesome and all, but it isn't enough to make me want to live in a zombie world >.<

Who all did you pick? Any of the same ladies? Make sure to leave a link the comments so I can make my TBR even longer! 

- Alysson

Stacking the Shelves (3): October 28th

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It's a chance to share all the goodies we received, bought, borrowed or whatever over the last week.

I was good this week guys, I only bought two books... well my dad bought me them when I visited this weekend. :} But I'm so excited for them!! They both have extras in them that I can't wait to read.

The Diviners by Libba Bray: I checked out The Diviners from the library a couple of weeks ago but the book is just so dang pretty I had to have my own copy. 

Insurgent by Veronica Roth: I got the collector's edition and it's all shiny!! This edition came with some cool stuff, the poster below and some temporary tattoos. It says "We both have war inside us. Sometimes it keeps us alive, sometimes it threatens to destroy us." How awesome is that?!

That's it for us this week! Have you read either of these? Make sure to leave a link to your hauls in the comments so we can share the love! 

- Alysson

Waiting on Wednesday (2): The Madness Underneath

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a feature designed to spotlight upcoming novels we can't wait to get our hands on. Click the link for more!

The Madness Underneath
by Maureen Johnson
Series: Shades of London, #2
Release Date: February 26th, 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenille
Genre: Paranormal
Goodreads 

After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Devereaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance. But Rory's brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she's become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact.

She soon finds out that the Shades— the city's secret ghost-fighting police—are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it's too late.

I love Maureen Johnson. Love her. She's one of the few authors on my auto-buy list actually. I have to admit though, it took me two tries to read The Name of the Star. But after finally finishing it, I can easily say I am hooked on this series. I love their concept, and I need to know what happens with Rory and Stephan... I just - I cannot stand Jerome. Honestly /SPOILER I wanted Jerome to be killer so Rory and Stephan would get together. /END So yes, The Madness Underneath, can't wait. :} I have to say though, I don't like any of the 3 cover designs.

The Shades of London series so far:

Have you read The Name of the Star or even The Madness Underneath yet? If yes, I'm mad jealous >_> What are you looking forward to this week? Leave us a link in the comments!

Top 10 Books to Get in the Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday - October 23rd: hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish. We make lists each week on various categories. This week's topic is:
TOP 10 Books to Get in the Halloween Spirit

This is late, but for my sanity and to appease my OCD about things, I'm posting it anyways. :P


1. Either of Gretchen McNeil's books, Ten and Possess: Teens stranded on an island getting killed off in Ten. And a really freaky doll scene in Possess, plus possession (obvs).

2. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: This is one of my favorite books. It's one of the few that I love to reread every now and again. It doesn't creep me out, but it puts me in the Halloween mood.

3. The Morganville Vampires Series by Rachel Caine: Asides from the fact that this series is about my favorite bad guys - vampires - they just feel like Fall.

4. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson: A ghost story about Jack the Ripper in present-day London? Yes please.


5. Anything by Edgar Allen Poe: His writing is lyrical and terrifying. His stories might not always be pull the covers over your head scary, but they're dark and Gothic and a Halloween must for me.

6. Anything by Stephen King, especially The Colorado Kid: Mysteries always get me in the Halloween spirit, and The Colorado Kid mixes freaky paranormal stuff in with the mystery.

7. Dracula by Bram Stoker: Classic vampires = best vampires. Most of the time.

8. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: Another one that makes me think of Fall.

9. The Turn of the Screw by Thomas James: It's a short ghost story but definitely freaky.

10. The First Days by Rhiannon Frater: Two pages. It only took reading the first two freaking pages for me to get scared. Zombies scare the shit out of me but I can't get enough of them... and Rhiannon Frater's writing is so addictive and honest making it hard to stop reading. First Days will make you want to lock yourself in a closet while reading so the light won't attract any unwanted visitors. Seriously.

Stacking the Shelves (2): October 20th

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. It's a chance to share all the goodies we received, bought, borrowed or whatever over the last week.

We hope everyone's having a great weekend so far. Here's what we got this past week, the covers link to the novel's Goodreads page.

alysson's Books

I've been in a reading slump for the last week which totally sucks monkey balls since we got so many awesome titles from the library last week.  -__-  But I just haven't been on it. This week was hectic. [Feel free to skip the following paragraph where I get a little bitchy and rant...]

Waiting on Wednesday (1): Quantum Coin

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a feature designed to spotlight upcoming novels we can't wait to get our hands on. Click the link for more!

Quantum Coin
by E.C. Myers
Series: Coin, #2
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
Publisher: Pyr
Genre: Science Fiction
Goodreads 

Ephraim thought his universe-hopping days were over. He's done wishing for magic solutions to his problems; his quantum coin has been powerless for almost a year, and he's settled into a normal life with his girlfriend, Jena. But then an old friend crashes their senior prom: Jena's identical twin from a parallel world, Zoe.

Zoe's timing couldn't be worse. It turns out that Ephraim's problems have just begun, and they're much more complicated than his love life: The multiverse is at stake—and it might just be Ephraim's fault.

Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe embark on a mission across multiple worlds to learn what's going wrong and how to stop it. They will have to draw on every resource available and trust in alternate versions of themselves and their friends, before it's too late for all of them.

If Ephraim and his companions can put their many differences aside and learn to work together, they might have a chance to save the multiverse. But ultimately, the solution may depend on how much they're willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity...and each other.

I read Fair Coin earlier this year and I thought the concept was pretty awesome. But I didn't realize it was part of a series! I'm excited to learn more about all the different worlds introduced in the first book. Luckily this comes out next week. :P

- Bill

Top 10 Contemp & Paranormal Authors

Top Ten Tuesday - October 16th: hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish. We make lists each week on various categories. This week's topic is:
TOP 10 FAVORITE AUTHORS IN X GENRE

I couldn't pick just one genre, so I listed my top 5 authors of contemporary and my top 5 authors of paranormal. 

Favorite contemporary authors

Maureen Johnson

Maureen Johnson is my "contemporary queen". Her books are so easy to fall in to. The characters are unique and strong and go on fabulous adventures of self discovery and all that coming of age goodness. Oh and the love - don't even get me started on the romances (this post would be waaaay too long). They're fun but also discuss important issues. 

Stacking the Shelves (1): October 14th

Hello guys, today we have our first book haul! And it's HUGE. Our library is awesome at getting new releases out quickly, so when we went earlier today we found most of our holds came in! And we also got some books to feature in the various Halloween/October events we've come across on other blogs.

From the library